Escaping the Truth
by Stargazer1
Summary: A/U. Hope is a normal student who skipped a few grades. When a new girl shows up in his school there are several questions that follow her. Who is she, why did she lie about where she is from and why is there something hidden behind her eyes? Hope will face challenges with his family, his beliefs, and his relationships, especially with Vanille Dia. Chapter 4 Up!
1. Chapter 1

**Escaping the Truth**

_**A/N: This is an Alternate Universe. I have edited the ages a little to make it work with my original idea. I do not own any characters or Final Fantasy 13 itself. Thank you so much and please enjoy.**_

* * *

**Chapter 1**

_I can't see anything…_

"Wake…"

_Where am I?_

"..up."

_Mom, dad, where are you?_

"Come on…"

_I'm scared…_

"…wake…"

_I just want to see your faces, please; I want to know that you are still alive._

"up!"

_I can't keep running away, I want to keep running away, to run away and never face with what I have to do._

"Wake up…"

_I need to escape but I can't. Please… I love you and miss you and I just want to be with you again.._

"We have to leave.."

_Where are we going? Who are you? Your voice is familiar but I'm not sure why you are talking to me._

"This is important, they are coming."

_Who is coming? Why are we in a hurry? I want to be safe, and being here is safe, isn't it?_

"Please, wake up…"

_I can't… I can't wake up. There is darkness everywhere and my body won't wake up! Help me please… Please help me…_

"They are at the door, please just get up!"

_I'm sorry…_

"Do you want to die?"

_I want to see my family again… _

"Please WAKE UP!"

_I'm sorry… I can't…_

* * *

"Hope, don't forget to grab your homework." Hope looked back at his mom who was sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee and reading her touch screen in front of her. Hope smile as he ate the last of his toast as he ran back to the table and grabbed his homework. He opened his bag and slid in the papers. His mother looked up from the screen and smiled at him. "You sure are assigned a lot of homework." Hope laughed and nodded.

"Etro forbid I have homework in the upper level classes." Hope smirked as he slid his book bag on and he ran towards the door, stopping to slip his shoes onto his feet.

"Don't be late tonight; your father should be home to have dinner with us." Hope stopped for a second to listen to what she was saying. His father should be home that night. Hope slowly slipped his shoe on all the way and slowly stood up.

"Really?" He asked, his tone was a little dry as he faced away from his mother.

"Yes, he sent me a message this morning. It has been a while since he ate dinner with us. Please don't be late." Hope gave a weak nod and opened the door and stepped outside into the bustling world.

Hope did not have a very good relationship with his father and it wasn't entirely his fault. It is hard to have a relationship with a man who was only ever home for maybe 2 hours a day. Of course that was a bit of an exaggeration, but Hope rarely saw his father each week and would be lucky if he saw him a total of 5 hours in a week. Every time he would see his father he would be reading his reports, drinking coffee or having talks with Nora. He would only ever talk to Hope every now and then about his grades and if they weren't perfect he would be scolded and wouldn't hear a word from his father for almost a month.

Hope hated him.

Hope didn't have strong feelings about people usually, but the feeling he had inside his heart for his father screamed of hate. Hope didn't like that he held this opinion of his father, most of the other students at school who's parent or parents worked for the Sanctum loved them and really enjoyed the time they didn't have to see their parent but Hope couldn't be like that. His mother was always there for him so he felt his father should always be there too.

Hope shook his head as he noticed he was at the school gates. He gave a small smile and he looked at the alabaster colored building that stretched high into the air. He loved coming here, he felt at peace when he was in a learning environment. There was something about knowledge that he thrived for and it was perfectly natural for him to be the top of his class and having skipped a few grades in the process. He was talked about in school about being a prodigy though Hope would always tell them to stop saying things like that. He didn't use his smarts to be better than everyone, he used them to help and that was a feeling he adored.

"Hope!" Hope turned around and noticed his friend Carlton walking towards him, a big goofy look on his face.

"Hey," Hope said, waving. He knew a lot of the kids in school but he only had a few close friends and Carlton was one of them. Hope grinned when he noticed Carlton had to adjust his glasses after being bumped into, a gesture that seemed to happen quite often.

"Did you get all the notes for History? I swear, when you think you know everything there is to know about the War of Transgression you find out another item and it seems like History rewrites itself!" Carlton complained as he shifted his backpack. Hope laughed.

"Yeah, but time travel cannot happen so what you are saying is a slight exaggeration." Hope said calmly as they walked into the building.

"Yeah, I know, but what if it could happen in the future? What if you could jump from time line to time line, how cool would that be?"

"You do know that if you change one thing in the timeline everything changes right?" Hope had thought about time travel but knew that if they found a way to do it, which he highly doubt, it would be in another life time.

Hope slipped into his classroom after waving at Carlton and discussing where they would meet for lunch. He put his bag on his designated hook and slid into his seat. He had his history book out in front of him and began to read ahead. Carlton was right though, every year you learn a new fact about the war and everything becomes more complicated. He smiled though as he read, he loved being about to think and understand about how people and war work. It fascinated him.

The teacher walked into the class and the students became quiet. Hope looked up from the book and noticed that the teacher was not standing up there by himself; a girl was standing next to him. She was already dressed in the school uniform and he could tell she was a little uneasy by the way she was pulling at the baby blue skirt. Her face held a smile as she looked at everyone in the class but Hope could tell there was something behind her green eyes that he couldn't figure out.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new student joining us today. Please introduce yourself."

"Hi, I'm Vanille Dia. I'm from Bodum, please to meet you." Her voice was a bit high but it wasn't annoying. Hope could tell that she was lying though. Hope watched as she smiled at everyone, giving a slight bow. Her accent was nowhere near Bodum, it was from somewhere else and he couldn't pinpoint it. She didn't have an accent he had ever heard and it made him curious about her. Why would she lie about where she was from? It didn't make sense for him.

"Please, take the open seat in the back." stated the teacher. Hope was so focused on his own thoughts that he almost missed her taking the seat next to him. She sat in the seat and clasped her hands together on the desk. He glanced at her and noticed she seemed very nervous. She seemed like a very happy go lucky girl but something was troubling her.

"Don't be nervous," he whispered to her "you will fit in." Vanille looked startled and glanced at him. Their eyes met for a second and in that second Vanille gave him the most genuine smile he had ever seen. Hope looked down at his book and read as the teacher spoke to everyone about the chapter. He wasn't sure why, but her smile startled him and made him feel uneasy but it wasn't an uneasy that was necessarily bad.

He had a feeling that Vanille was going to make an impact on him while she was here…

He didn't know how right he was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Hope grabbed his lunch from his backpack and walked out the door of the classroom. History had been the same as always, covering the material that had been assigned the night before and debates began to take place. During the debates, Hope noticed that Vanille had not taken part of it and instead she just stared out the window. Language was the same, there had been a debate over the chapters that had been assigned the night before on the fiction book about the fal'cie and she once again just stared out the window. He wasn't exactly sure why she didn't want to take part of the debates but he knew it was none of his business.

Carlton waved to Hope and he waved back as he made his way over to the empty table that his friend occupied. This was a very familiar sight, just the two of them sitting together and discussing current events and usually farfetched ideas like Time Travel. Hope sat down, placing his lunch on the table in front of him and gave Carlton a smile.

"How is class?" asked Hope as he pulled his sandwich out and began to eat it. Carlton just shrugged.

"Same as always, tons of debates and we really get nowhere. Same with you?" Hope gave a nod as he took another bite of his sandwich.

"Who is she?" Hope looked up and noticed Vanille walking into the room with a tray in her hands. She looked lost though she kept a smile on her face. Her eyes danced from table to table, trying to figure out where she wanted to sit. It seemed like she was standing there a tad too long when an upperclassmen bumped into her shoulder and making her drop her tray to the ground. She looked down at the tray but didn't say a thing.

Vanille sighed softly as she looked at her tray on the ground. It was just her luck that she would get bumped into on her first day at the school. She wasn't entirely fitting in but she felt that it would take a little while for her to warm up to anybody. She was usually a bubbly girl but being in a new environment was throwing her for a loop and having to adapt to a new lifestyle was becoming very difficult. She bit her lip as she knelt down to pick up the items off the ground.

"Do you need help?" Vanille looked up and noticed a silver hair boy, the boy she sat next to during class. She gave him a cheerful smile and shook her head.

"I think I have it, thank you though." She chirped and went to grab her milk but was a little slow as the young man was handing her the milk. The gesture was very kind, something she had not experienced that day. She felt a little flutter in her stomach as she grabbed the milk and placed it on her tray. After everything was picked up Vanille stood up and smiled at the boy.

"Thank you for helping, you really didn't need to." The boy gave a shrug.

"It's okay. If you want somewhere to sit you can sit with my friend and I." he offered, pointing to another young man sitting at an almost empty table. The young man with glasses smiled and waved in their direction. Vanille smiled and nodded.

"Sure, that sounds great."

Hope could tell that this was another person than the one he had noticed earlier. This Vanille was very chipper and seemed full of energy. Hope sat next to Carlton and Vanille sat to his left. Carlton couldn't stop smiling as he looked at the new addition to the table, something that Hope wasn't used to.

"Hi, I'm Carlton and your name is?"

"Vanille, Vanille Dia. I just moved here from Bodhum." She said, shaking Carlton's hand.

"Bodhum, huh? You like the water? They have some of the best fireworks around," Carlton stated, his eyes not leaving Vanille's. Hope noticed Vanille's eye shake for a split second before she delievered her answer.

"The water is really nice and it is really calm. The fireworks are amazing as well, I wish on them every year," Vanille cooed as she opened her milk and took a drink of it. Hope noticed that the only thing she could eat was her milk since everything else on her plate had hit the ground. He tore a part of his sandwich off and handed it to her. She looked at Hope surprised.

"Here, I'm almost full so if you want some of my sandwich you can since everything you had fell on the floor." Vanille took the piece of sandwich happily and ate it.

"Thanks!" she chirped as the chimes went off that signified the end of lunch and that the students should return to class. "I'll see you in class!" and with that Vanille grabbed her tray and skipped off. Hope had a small smile and shook his head at the complete 180 that Vanille had taken with her personality.

"She is something else," said Carlton as he stood up. Hope gave a laugh.

"Yeah, she is quite interesting."

"She is pretty too; you should get her to sit with us from now one." Hope glanced at Carlton with a questionable look. He didn't know that Carlton could be swayed by a girl so easily.

* * *

After lunch Vanille had become a different person. The subject with math and instead of staring out the window, Vanille had moved her desk closer to Hope so she could look off his homework paper and write down the notes she had missed from the day before and she also chimed in with the discussion about the equations and how to solve the problems. Hope couldn't believe the transformation and all because he had talked to her. As she leaned in close to look at his notes, Hope's chest fluttered a bit and he had to look away. She was kind of pretty, but her eyes were amazing. Hope didn't understand why he was drawn to her eyes but he felt that there was something there that she was holding back and he wasn't sure if she was aware of it herself yet or not.

As their last subject of the day was physical activity, Hope packed everything up and stood up.

"Are we moving?" Vanille asked from a seated position. Hope turned around and nodded.

"Yeah, we are moving to the gym." Vanille gave a nod and grabbed her stuff. Hope began to walk and heard a shout,

"Hey! Wait for me!" Hope turned around and gave a small grin.

"Well then, hurry up!" he said as Vanille fumbled with her books and clumsily left her seat and caught up with him.

The two of them walked together in silence as they walked toward the gym. Vanille was looking around and taking in as much of the school as possible. She had never been in such an amazing place before. She was used to a smaller school with fewer students, a place where everyone knew each other.

_No, that isn't right._

Vanille stopped and looked around.

"What isn't right?" she asked, trying to find the voice who had spoken to her. Hope turned around when he heard Vanille speak and tilted his head.

"Who are you talking to?" Vanille looked at Hope and Hope noticed that she seemed scared. "Are you okay?" Vanille's heart had begun to race and she had no idea why.

"Um, yeah, I thought someone was talking to me," she stuttered and jogged to Hope. "Are we almost there?"

Hope looked at Vanille and gave a small nod. "Yeah, I go in this door and you go in that one over there. Talk to your teacher so you can get your gym attire."

"Why do I need to change?" she asked. Hope grinned a little.

"Who runs in a skirt?"

* * *

"So, is she different since lunch?" asked Carlton as he stretched, glancing over the field to where Vanille was stretching with the other girls. Hope couldn't understand Carlton's infatuation with her, not at all. He could admit that she was pretty but that was all.

"She talks more; she was sitting right next to me the entire second half of the day like she was more interested in the topics and copying my notes."

"Really? She sat right next to you? That is awesome,"

"I don't see what the big deal is," Hope really didn't understand his friend at all. Carlton stopped stretching and just looked at Hope.

"Haven't you ever had a crush on someone?" A crush? Hope looked at his friend and gave him a questionable look. A crush? He had never thought about girls like that, never really even tried to get to know a girl outside of working with her for a group project. Hope didn't have too many friends and if he had a friend it was a male and not a female. Hope rarely interacted with girls.

"No, I haven't… But how can you have a crush with barely getting to know her?" Hope asked curiously.

"I just… Do. She is so pretty and mysterious… She isn't like the other girls here, all into themselves. You need to bring her around more so we can get to know her better." With that comment, Hope felt a little uneasy.

"I think if you want to get to know her, you should try to talk to her. Why should I be the middle man?" Carlton looked at Hope with a helpless expression.

"You already have access to speak to her! I don't have a class with her! How can I talk to her without seeming like a creeper coming and stalking her out in her class?" Hope shook his head and Carlton tried to plead with him.

"It is all up to her if she wants to sit with us or not at lunch. Come on, we are about ready to run the mile."

Both the boy and girl class merged for the activity for the day which was to run the mile. Hope stood in a shuffle of both boys and girls and felt like cattle. He always hated with the classes merged to do an activity like this, there always seemed to be too many people. He didn't know how he had been separated from Carlton, but he found that it helped him clear his head. His friend was starting to annoy him with his infatuation with Vanille.

"On your mark, get set, go!" shouted one of the teachers and the entire class began to move. Hope decided he needed to keep a steady pace and end up middle of the pack instead of trying to go all out and try to get in the top percentage. As he jogged, he felt people pass him left and right and it didn't bother him.

"Why are you going so slow?" piped a voice from behind him. Hope glanced behind him and saw Vanille easily keeping up with him.

"I'm not, I'm pacing myself. Why should I over exert myself?" he asked as Vanille jogged next to him.

"Aren't you suppose to push yourself so you can get better?" she asked.

"Yeah, but I don't see a reason to with physical activity when I feel I'm rather healthy," he stated. He hated running and he kept himself in relatively good shape. He didn't find it necessary to stretch himself in the activity.

"What would you do if a monster was chasing you? Would you be able to out run him?" asked Vanille as she passed Hope and turned around and began to run backwards.

"Why would that ever happen? There are no monsters on Cocoon; they are all down on Pulse. Your theory is invalid," he stated, getting a little annoyed.

"You never know, we could have monsters here that we would have to get away from one day." Vanille grinned at Hope.

"I think you are crazy."

"I think you are afraid that you can't beat me," piped Vanille, her eyes dancing with excitement.

"What? How do you come up with that conclusion?" asked Hope.

"I'm smart and why would a boy want to lose to a girl?" and with that statement, Vanille turned around and began to run with amazing grace and agility. Hope watched her for a second and didn't understand that he had been challenged.

She was right; he couldn't lose to a girl.

Vanille ran as fast as her legs could carry her and it was a very quick speed. She loved running and feeling the wind in her hair and against her skin. She felt that she could run for days if she had to and she would be completely fine. She turned and looked over her should and noticed that Hope was catching up to her. She smiled at him. She knew he was fast than he made himself out to be, she just wanted him to realize it.

"You have to do better than that!" she called and began to push her body ever harder.

_Why am I here?_

Vanille faltered a bit in her step as she heard the voice in her head again but she kept going, knowing that whatever she had heard in her head wasn't real, it couldn't be real.

_This isn't home… Why am I here? _

A pain began to build up in Vanille's back, a pain that brought tears to her eyes.

_Not here, no_.

The pains moved from her back into her head, causing the world around her begin to blur.

_I can't come out here, no._

Hope noticed Vanille falter with her step and regain herself. He was catching up to her; he was almost there when he watched as Vanille dropped to the ground suddenly and did not move. Hope felt his heart stop and he felt his legs carry him quicker than he had ever moved before. He threw himself to the ground next to Vanille and rolled her over onto her back.

"Vanille!" he called as he touched her head. Her head felt like it was on fire but he couldn't tell if it was because of her running or different reasons. Her breath was shallow and her body was covered in sweat. He shook her gently. "Vanille, wake up!" There was no answer. He noticed as her breath began to slow down and he took her pulse. Her heart wasn't beating quickly like you would think it would be after running. It was actually slowing down. Hope put his arms under her and picked her up.

"Vanille hang on, don't die on me!" and he began to run to the nurse.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_It's dark… I'm asleep and I cannot wake up… What happened to me? How long have I been asleep, been kept in the dark? Why am I having such trouble? _

"Is she going to be okay?"

_Who, me? Of course I'm going to be fine, I just need to wake up, and that's all. I'm stuck here, stuck in the dark and I cannot find my way out! I want to see the light again._

"Yes, she will be fine. I will let you know that I contacted your doctor from Bodum and apparently he cannot remember ever seeing her,"

_Bodum? Seeing who? What is going on out there?_

"He is getting old; I'm surprised he doesn't remember us, we were practically family. Oh well, what can you do when you get older, huh?"

_Us? Who is us?_

"I understand, I've done the same with a few patients before but with a little prodding of the memory I finally remembered them. Once she wakes up I'll want to keep her for a day to make sure she is fine and there are no lasting effects of her fall. She hit her head pretty hard."

_My head? _

"Thank you doctor."

Hope sat at the dinner table in quiet as he picked at his dinner. His mother was eating quietly and his father was engrossed in his touch screen device that he was barely touching his food. Hope signed loudly as he put his fork down and looked at his mother.

"May I please be excused?" he asked quietly. His mother looked at him and tilted her head a bit.

"You barely ate any of your dinner sweetheart, is there something wrong?" Hope glanced at his father, not wanting to tell his mother that he was worried.

_Hope ran down the hallways, weaving in and out of students. His legs felt like they were ripping apart as he ran through the halls. He ignored the stares he received as he made his way towards the nurses office. He ran through the door and came to a stop, his heart pounding a mile a minute due to his effort of getting there as quickly as he did._

"_What is…"_

"_She is dying, help her!"_

"I'm fine…" he said quietly.

"Don't lie to your mother," Hope closed his eyes as he heard his father speak. He was afraid that would be the response he heard. "You know that lying will get you nowhere in life. Tell your mother what the matter is, now." Hope wasn't sure what was worse: his father talking and trying to sound interested in what was happening or that he hadn't even dared to look up from his screen to show an ounce of concern on his face.

"I wasn't…"

"Hope, enough. You will not leave this table until you tell your mother what is going on, do you understand?" Hope gripped his napkin tightly. He wanted to tell his mother, he wanted to tell her everything but he didn't want to tell _him._ He didn't want to be scolded for feeling so silly, for feeling any type of emotion. What would make it worse is that his father would go about it so uninterested that it was a waste of time. His mother watched him careful as he let his grip ease up on the napkin.

"I watched a girl almost die today." He said quietly, looking down at the table and he heard his mother gasp. His heart began to race again, thinking back on how frail Vanille had been, how fragile she felt in his arms. Her heart slowing down as he held her, watching her leave in an ambulance and not hearing any word on if she was alive or dead.

"Is that all?" Hope's head shot in his father's direction.

"What?" Hope's father glanced up from his and stared at Hope.

"I said, is that all?" Hope stood up quickly, knocking his chair over.

"What do you mean, is that all? She was dying in my arms and that is all you can say?" shouted Hope. His mother stood up, reaching for Hope but Hope moved away from the table and stormed into his room, slamming his door shut.

Hope threw himself on his bed, face first into his pillow. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs but instead tears escaped his eyes and his body became numb and weak. It finally hit him that he may never see Vanille again and his body decided the only way to take in everything that happened that day was to cry.

So he cried something he hadn't done for a very long time.

There was a soft knock on the door and before Hope could say a thing he felt his bed dip down and a hand rest on his bad.

"Hope." It was his mother. Hope wrapped his arms tightly around his pillow and fought to stop the tears. "Hope, please."

"Why is he so cold?" Hope shouted into his pillow. "HE doesn't care so why does he even try to act interested?" Hope sat up quickly and looked at his mom, "I don't know if I will see her again and he acts like it doesn't even matter! She could lose her life and he doesn't care! Just because he doesn't know her doesn't mean that I might be affected by this! He doesn't care about me so why should I act like I care about him?" Hope began to shake with all the emotion surging through his body.

"Sweetheart, he cares about you."

"No mom, he doesn't! He is never here! If he cared he would be here more and try to do things with me like, I don't know, homework or go for bike rides or something! And he not showing any emotion over a human being that could possibly be dead is not normal." Hope's mother wrapped her arms around him and pulled him to her. Hope resisted but soon eased into his mother's grasp and the tears threatened his eyes again.

"Who is she?" asked his mother softly.

"A new girl, her name is Vanille. She was running, she was making me run after her in a race. I couldn't lose to a girl…"

"Shh, what happened?"

"We were running and she challenged me because I wasn't running quick enough and she darted away from me… I tried to catch up with her but when she saw that I almost caught up she pushed herself even more and… I'm afraid it's because of me that she may die," whispered Hope as the tears began to surface again and his body began to shake and tense up with crying silently.

"Shh honey, it isn't your fault," whispered his mom as she rocked him back and forth. "What happened when she fell? What did you do?"

"I picked her up…"

"And?"

"I ran her to the nurse…" His mother rubbed the back of his head and kissed it.

"You are the reason she is going to live. Don't beat yourself up about this. You do not know if she died or not. I feel that she is alive and it is all because of you. You are special Hope and I bet that you will find out that she is alive and it is all because of you." Hope hugged his mother tightly and took a deep sigh.

"Thank you…"

"What happened yesterday? I heard a lot of kids talking about you carrying a girl to the nurses office! I saw the ambulance leave." Carlton asked as he walked next to Hope as they entered the school building.

"I really don't want to talk about it…" Hope said softly. He didn't get a lot of sleep the night before, nightmares plagued his dreams and the result was all the same…

Vanille was dead.

Hope walked into his classroom and glanced to the seat next to him. It was empty. His head sank as he looked at the empty seat. He walked towards the teacher and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Yes Hope?" Hope was quiet for a moment before he decided to ask his question.

"Is there any word on Vanille Dia?" The teacher looked down at Hope with a gloomy looking face. Of course he knew what had happened the day before; all the teachers must know the truth. The teacher put his hand on Hope's should and Hope prepared for the worst.

"She woke up this morning."

_The sky was as blue as it could be and not a cloud touched the sky. There was a warm breeze and Vanille closed her eyes as she embraced the air against her skin. She wished every day could be exactly like it was at the moment. It was peaceful. She was home._

"_Vanille!" called a small voice and she turned around. Her cousin. Vanille knelt down and opened her arms and the little girl ran towards her. Vanille scooped up the little girl and twirled her around._

"_Esma! How are you doing today?" Vanille chirped. Esma giggled as they stopped twirling._

"_It is amazing! I saw some amazing creatures!" Vanille smiled._

"_Aren't they amazing? And beautiful?" Esma nodded. Vanille put the girl down on the ground and grabbed her hand. "Come on, let's head home okay?"_

"_Okay!"_

Vanille opened her eyes and squinted as the bright light that she saw focused itself into a white room. Vanille looked around and noticed she was alone in the hospital room. She gave a small sigh and rubbed her head. She felt uneasy about what she just remembered; not knowing if what she saw was a memory or a dream. It felt like a memory but she didn't remember where in the timeline that it fit. She closed her eyes as she recalled what she had just saw and gave a sigh. She opened her eyes again and looked around more and her heart sank. She was alone.

She hated being alone.

Hope stood in front of the hospital, clutching a few books, notes and paper to his chest. He had asked if he could bring Vanille her school work so she wouldn't fall behind. The teacher agreed, saying that he didn't have to do it but Hope insisted. Hope looked at the hospital and rocked back and forth on his heels; he really hated hospitals.

Hope made his way to the front desk and asked for the room number for Vanille. The lady smiled at him and winked.

"You should probably take her something nice upstairs; she hasn't had that many visitors the poor dear. Our gift shop is right over there," she said and pointed to the right. Hope was taken back. Was he supposed to bring her something? The only time he had ever been in the hospital was for a dying relative and could remember all the flowers that would always line the rooms. He browsed the aisles in the shop, trying to see if there was something that he felt that Vanille would like. Getting her a small gift was the least he could do for putting her through what she had gone through the day before. He would feel a little better if she would accept the gift that he picked. After a few minutes he browsing, he finally found the perfect gift for her. On a shelf in the corner was a crystal figurine of a girl with what looked like water wrapping around her body as she was held up in mid air. The girl had two pigtails, very similar to Vanille, and she looked completely happy. Hope smiled and grabbed the figurine. He looked at the price and bit his lip, not knowing if he wanted to spend that must gil on a figurine. But, his mother had given him her card so he could do just that, find a gift for Vanille and take it to her, so he grabbed it.

Hope stood outside Vanille's door and fiddled with the bag. He was nervous but he didn't know why. He was beginning to feel very shy and he felt silly for being that way. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Yes?"

Hope opened the door and slowly stepped into the room. Vanille sat on her bed dressed in a hospital gown and propped up in the bed. Her eyes seemed weak and she looked pale, but she was alive and that made Hope feel relived. He felt the breath he had mysteriously been holding leave his body as he gave Vanille a small smile. When her eyes recognized that it was him, she had the happiest look on her face as she stared at him.

"Hope!" she said happily though a bit weak. Hope felt a rush of feelings surging through his body and wasn't sure what they were but he smiled a big smile and sat the books and papers down on the counter.

"Hi, how are you feeling?" he asked, still fingering the bag nervously.

"I'm tired but other than that, I'm feeling pretty good. I'm surprised to see you; I haven't had any visitors this entire time! I was starting to feel lonely," she said, the ending seeming a bit sad. Hope could tell that she was lonely but remembered what the lady downstairs had said.

"You haven't seen anyone since you've been awake?" he asked.

"No, no one. Why?"

"The lady downstairs said that you have had visitors but not many so I figured you would have seen someone." Vanille shook her head.

"Nope! Not a soul! Hey, why are you so fidgety?" inquired Vanille, tilting her head to the side. Hope felt a blush creep to his cheeks and thrust the small gift bag to Vanille.

"I brought you something. I felt bad for pushing you physically yesterday, I thought because of me you were…" but he couldn't finish his sentence. Vanille grabbed the bag and grabbed his hand. She squeezed it and gave him a warm smile. Hope felt his cheeks begin to flare up and looked down. Vanille opened the bag and unwrapped her figurine. She held her breath as she took in the beauty of the figurine. Emotions surged through her as she stared at the figurine.

"What's wrong?" asked Hope, his voice seemed frantic. Vanille looked at Hope with a confused look on her face. "You are crying. Did I do something wrong? Do you not feel well? I can take the figurine back!" Vanille put a hand up to her cheek and she realized that she was crying. She was so confused, she had no idea that she was crying until Hope had said something.

She was crying and now she couldn't stop.

Hope was scared; he didn't understand why she was crying. He leaned against the bed and put his hand against her forehead to see if she was hot.

"Are you not feeling well? What can I do?" he rambled on, trying to figure out why Vanille was crying. He already felt bad for her being in the hospital because of him but now after looking at his gift she was crying and he didn't know what to do. He felt her grab his hand and hold it against her cheek as she began to cry harder.

"Thank you," she whispered. Hope couldn't hear what she had said and leaned in closer.

"What?" he asked. Vanille locked eyes with Hope and stared at him while the tears ran down her face.

"Thank you."


	4. Chapter 4

Hope took a deep breath as he fiddled with the books in his hands. He was standing in front of a strange door, the door that lead into the house that Vanille lived in. She hadn't been to school for a few days and he volunteered to bring her the missing work so she could work on it so she wouldn't fall behind. He hadn't seen her for a few days and his stomach was becoming uneasy and he didn't understand why. It couldn't have been anything that he had eaten; it was all the normal items that he usually ate so he was very confused on why his stomach seemed so upset and fluttery. Hope knocked on the door and waited.

A woman opened the door and looked down upon him. Her face seemed sharp and her eyes gazed into his eyes, her dark hair barely swinging into her eyes.

"May I help you?" she asked the accent the same as the one Vanille had.

"I came to see Vanille, I have her work," he stuttered, his stomach doing flips. The lady glanced at him and then behind her. Hope felt like she was stalling, trying to find a reason to not let him into the house. Before she could say anything, bright eyes appeared and smiled at Hope.

"Hope!" Vanille squeaked and pushed by the woman and gave Hope a big hug. Hope felt his face get hot when she embraced him.

"Hi Vanille," he said softly, taking deep breaths as she pulled away from him. "I brought your work for you," Vanille made a sour face at the word _work_ and grabbed the books from Hope.

"Gosh, why is there so much work to do?" she complained as she looked at the books in her arms.

"Well, we are one of the top schools in Cocoon…" Hope said quietly and gave a small smile. Vanille grinned at him and looked up at the lady next to her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! You don't know Hope do you?" she asked her friend. She shook her head. "Hope, this is Fang. Fang, this is Hope. Fang is my guardian, she moved here with me."

"How about your parents?" asked Hope. Vanille's eyes shifted and she looked down. Hope should have known that he shouldn't have asked.

"They… died. I don't remember them really, but I do know that they were kind…" she said softly.

"I'm so sorry Vanille, I should have thought before I spoke." Hope said quietly. Vanille gave a small smile, but Hope could tell something was going on inside of Vanille's head, something she couldn't figure out.

"It's okay Hope, you didn't know… I was going to ask you in but I'm not feeling too well anymore… If you could excuse me? I'll talk with you tomorrow at school, okay?" Vanille said softly, her small smile still upon her lips.

"Oh, yeah, sure no problem, see you tomorrow then. Nice to meet you Fang," Hope said as he turned and walked away. Fang closed the door.

Vanille dumped the books on the end table by the door and slowly walked away from the door. Fang watched as Vanille walked slowly away.

"Are you okay?" she called. Vanille turned her head and gave a small smile.

"Yeah… I am just a bit dizzy. I'm going to go upstairs." Vanille walked up the stairs and made her way to her room. She sat on her bed and laid down upon it, curling into a small ball. Her parents… She couldn't remember them. She knew that they had died right before they moved but she should be able to remember them but she couldn't. She had no faces to go with the people she knew as her parents. This was starting to make her go crazy, not being able to identify who her parents are when they had just passed. Tears began to stream down Vanille's face as she tried to put a face to the name and she slowly cried herself to sleep.

* * *

Hope walked slowly down the road towards his house, his head bowed down. He felt awful that he hadn't thought about the question he asked, he had really hurt Vanille. His heart felt heavy at the thought of Vanille looking so helpless and small. Hope felt rage build up inside of him for his stupidity and he clinched his hands into fists.

"Damnit!" he cried and kicked a trash can as hard as he could. It went flying, trash scattering all over the sidewalk. Hope stared at the trash and sighed, picking up the can and setting it upright. How could he be so stupid? How could he not realize that when she didn't say she was living with her parents that meant her parents weren't around anymore?

Hope sat on a bench and looked up at the sky. Why was he getting so worked up over this? Why was he getting so mad that he has been so inconsiderate? It shouldn't bug him as much as it was. Hope sighed and looked at the ground. Maybe there was something wrong with him.

Hope walked through the door to his home and noticed his mother sitting on the couch, drinking a cup of coffee and reading a book. She looked up and smiled at her son when she noticed the gloom look upon his face.

"Hope, dear, are you okay?" Hope sat next to her and shook his head. "What's wrong?"

"I did a stupid thing today and I'm beating myself up over it."

"What was it?" Hope took a breath and looked at his mother.

"I went to give Vanille her work and she was living with a woman. She introduced me to her and said that she was her guardian. I asked about her parents and Vanille said they were dead. I feel awful," Hope said, his heart pounding quickly. Hope's mother put her book and coffee down and pulled Hope into an embrace.

"Don't feel too bad sweetheart, it was an innocent question. You had no idea." She said softly, rocking Hope a bit.

"I feel so guilty and I don't know why. Saying something that embarrassing in front of her makes me feel really awful. I know I shouldn't feel so humiliated but I do. Why is that mom?" Hope pulled away and looked up at his Mother. His mom met him with a small smile and put her hands to her side.

"Could you possibly like her?" she asked with a small sparkle in her eye. Hope cocked an eyebrow and held a confused look upon his face.

"What do you mean by like her?" he asked.

"Well, do you feel butterflies in your stomach when you are around her, feel your face flush or your heart race quickly sometimes?" she asked. Hope thought for a second before he replied.

"Well, yeah, but I just thought something was wrong with me." He said. His mother smiled at him.

"I think you like her and that is why you are so upset about that simple thing. It's just natural to feel really guilty when you say something to the person you like and it upsets them," explained Hope's mother.

Hope stared at her, not truly comprehending at first what she was saying. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense to him. He never really talked to girls, not until he met Vanille. She seemed so nice and was fun and caring that he couldn't help but be drawn to her. His face turned red as he thought about his feelings for her. He did like her, he liked everything about her.

"Thanks mom," he said as he shot up. "I'm going to go upstairs and work on my homework, call me for dinner!" he grabbed his bag and raced up the stairs, walked through his door and closed it. He threw his bag on his computer chair and fell onto his bed. He had never liked a girl before and just thinking about it made him extremely happy. He didn't know how he was going to act around Vanille from then on out but he knew he was going to see if he could get her to like him.

* * *

Hope sat in his chair while he fidgeted. She should be here by now, he knew it. He looked up and smiled as she stepped into the room and the bell began to ring right after. Vanille took a few breaths and composed herself before she took her seat next to Hope.

"How far did you get on your work?" He asked. Vanille gave a sheepish smile.

"I didn't do any of it, I didn't understand what was going on," she said, her cheeks going red.

"I can help you today after school if you want me to," Hope suggested, his stomach fluttering while he asked. Vanille gave him a warm smile.

"That would be great!"

"Settle down now kids," the teacher said and the room turned silent. Hope couldn't help but keep a smile upon his face. He was going to help Vanille with her work, spend more time with her.

"Now, as you know, the class field trip is upon us. Our destination this year is Bodum so we can see the fireworks. It will be an overnight trip. I'm passing out permission forms so your guardian will have to sign it. Also included with this form is a form for your parent if they wish to be a chaperone. I will need these back by tomorrow." Hope looked at the form and then glanced at Vanille. Vanille stared blankly at the form.

"Hey," whispered Hope, "We get to go to your home town! How lucky is that?" Vanille stared blankly at the form, tears forming in her eyes.

"Real lucky," she whispered as a tear drop touch the paper.


End file.
